Head units that do digital radio?
 

Read this article the other day: [url]http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,25425257-5017965,00.html[/url]

So does anyone know if head units are out yet that support it? Sounds great not getting interference in the car, radio song names on the screen etc.

Been looking for something to replace my current head unit that has iPod, Bluetooth etc. Am I going to have to wait a bit?

I know Alpine have been doing this for years mate! You could just never access the feature because Australia is about a whole cycle behind the rest of the modernized world.
When it first started testing a few years back, Nova had some message that used to scroll through. It ended up getting stuck on "GET OUT". Shades of Eddie Murphy Delirious came flashing back and I started to wonder if my car was haunted :p

[QUOTE=phizzle]When it first started testing a few years back, Nova had some message that used to scroll through. It ended up getting stuck on "GET OUT". [/QUOTE]

That's RDS, not quite the same.


[I]Radio Data System, or RDS, is a communications protocol standard from the European Broadcasting Union for sending small amounts of digital information using conventional FM radio broadcasts. The RDS system standardises several types of information transmitted, including time, track/artist info and station identification. RDS has been standard in Europe and Latin America since the early 1990s, but less so in North America.

Radio Broadcast Data System is the official name used for the U.S. version of RDS, though the "RDS" name seems to be at least as common in usage. The two standards are nearly identical, with only slight differences, mainly in which numbers are assigned to each of 31 musical and other program formats the RBDS system can identify. RBDS was approved by the NRSC, RDS by the EBU.

Both use a 57kHz subcarrier to carry data at 1187.5 bits per second. The 57 kHz was chosen for being the third harmonic (3×) of the pilot tone for FM stereo, so it would not cause interference or intermodulation with it, or with the stereo difference signal at 38 kHz (2×). The data format utilises error correction. [/I]




As for digital tuners, we have been asked this question therefore we have asked the question to the reps, and their answers have been - "don't know"

I have a UK DAB headunit in the shed. It's a Blaupunkt woodstock. Unfortunately Aus went with a different technology for DAB than Europe and the US, so headunits from over there are useless!

Sydney has had DAB broadcasting for some time now. Check out some of the online stores over there to see if they have compatible units. I know Alpine and Kenwood do a separate box that plugs into their units in Europe. Not sure if they've modified them to work with Aus ones yet.

[QUOTE=bumpstop]That's RDS, not quite the same.


[I]Radio Data System, or RDS, is a communications protocol standard from the European Broadcasting Union for sending small amounts of digital information using conventional FM radio broadcasts. The RDS system standardises several types of information transmitted, including time, track/artist info and station identification. RDS has been standard in Europe and Latin America since the early 1990s, but less so in North America.

Radio Broadcast Data System is the official name used for the U.S. version of RDS, though the "RDS" name seems to be at least as common in usage. The two standards are nearly identical, with only slight differences, mainly in which numbers are assigned to each of 31 musical and other program formats the RBDS system can identify. RBDS was approved by the NRSC, RDS by the EBU.

Both use a 57kHz subcarrier to carry data at 1187.5 bits per second. The 57 kHz was chosen for being the third harmonic (3×) of the pilot tone for FM stereo, so it would not cause interference or intermodulation with it, or with the stereo difference signal at 38 kHz (2×). The data format utilises error correction. [/I]




As for digital tuners, we have been asked this question therefore we have asked the question to the reps, and their answers have been - "don't know"[/QUOTE]
Pwned :p